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I'd take all of this with a grain of salt. This is a survey from a dating site. The majority of their members haven't been able to get any in other ways and hen

I'd take all of this with a grain of salt. This is a survey from a dating site. The majority of their members haven't been able to get any in other ways and hence use the site - so comparing partners, experiences etc is not necessarily a good subset of general society. I'm not putting down anyone who uses such a site, in this day and age I certainly would if I was single, but I am not sure the sexual habits of single people who use a dating site is really a good subset of data for this.

ctide 16y ago
How's the 20th century working out for you?
- TGJ 16y ago
  It's a grain of salt take it how you want. Because you yourself are surrounded by networking does not mean that everyone is surrounded in the same way. It's something to consider. Much like OKCupid being a free site vs surveys from say, eHarmony.
- lukesandberg 16y ago
  I think that being suspicious of a cohort bias on OKCupid is totally legitimate. It's reasonable to assume that the subset of people who use OKCupid is not representative of society as a whole. Now im not sure exactly what biases this might introduce, but one should always be aware, especially considering that the OKCupid users are a self selected sample (not a random sample) of society.
  - potatolicious 16y ago
    > "I think that being suspicious of a cohort bias on OKCupid is totally legitimate." Absolutely, but that's not what DirtyAndy was getting at - he's assigning his own stereotype of an OKCupid user, which he has little data to back up. It's perfectly valid to be suspicious of population bias in a website - any website for that matter - but to extrapolate and pretend to know just how that bias is tilted (without data) is doing yourself a disservice.
    - DirtyAndy 16y ago
      I assign no stereotype to any OKCupid users (I am not even sure I have heard of it before), I do feel perhaps that some peoples insecurities about using a dating website are causing them to take this out of context (I accept my wording may not have been delicate enough). In 1995 I dated a girl I met through IRC or a similar such service, and the few single friends I have I often encourage to at least investigate online services, so I don't fall into any category of people who judge people who use these services. I would say that (at least in the UK) probably a slight majority of the people I know are still uncomfortable with the idea of meeting someone online. It is likely that online dating will become more and more prevalent, will it ever totally eclipse other ways of meeting people, I don't know - and yes I am a dinosaur in that I honestly hope that finding love doesn't come down to a computer metric and getting along via a few emails. The spark of meeting someone special in the flesh, eyes meeting across the room etc is something I hope is never replaced by a computer matching you to someone with similar interests (my wife is amazing, we have an amazing relationship and I am pretty sure no computer would ever put us together - zero interests in common, that is what keeps it interesting). As for no data, I did write my comment with no data to back it up. I would imagine less than 10% of comments I see on HN are made with solid information to backup someones thoughts. Most people on here are smart people that can make up their own minds and provide information from the world they see around them. Did you have any data to back your comment up? Here's a start, OKCupid claim the median number of partners for both men and women, gays and straights is 6. I've just gone out and googled for such numbers, and whilst I didn't find anything definitive, I didn't find one median or average as low as 6, in fact looking at 18-35 as another commentator points out as OKCupid being representative of, 9 would appear more likely (my guess would have been 8). So that probably supports my assumption that there is a bias to some degree - OKCupid users appear to be getting less than the average. I have no idea where OKCupid falls in the spectrum of dating sites, I have no idea how many active users there are in the world of dating websites, but I would be staggered to see statistics that extrapolate to the user base of a singles website being indicative of overall society. In 10 years time, maybe, but at this point in time I doubt it. This article is trying to claim it has real facts, all I am saying is take those facts with a grain of salt.
      - 16y ago
BrandonM 16y ago
I'm on OKCupid. I've been able to "get any" in other ways. According to the article, the average number of sexual partners for everyone on the site is 6. Personally, I'm using the site because I frequently find myself hanging out with friends. Most are male, but there are a few females who are either in relationships or are longtime friends who aren't sexually interested in me. I'm just hoping to meet a few women to go out on casual dates with and to bring into our "friend group." As a 26-year-old who is out of college and whose coworkers are all 35 or older, a dating site seems like a good way to meaningfully meet people. I think your assumptions of the types of people on dating sites are way off. Based on my chats with women on the site, they seem to be in a similar position to me. With dating sites, not only do you get to meet someone outside the context of a bar, you also know that you're talking to someone else who is looking to meet people. It completely removes the awkwardness of trying to figure out if someone is in a relationship, if they have at all similar interests, or if they're going to just be totally bitchy for no reason. That aside, the real question seems to be if the site is representative. I would argue that for the age group of 18-35, the site is highly representative.
davidj 16y ago
I agree. Also it is biased towards people who own computers, have internet, and know about this site. Also biased against for people who aren't currently in a long term relationship or refuse to do online dating. I have never heard of this site and I know people who don't own computers.
- HeyLaughingBoy 16y ago
  Not much of a bias, though. I know people who regularly use dating sites but don't own a computer: they use the one at work. Just about anyone working in an office these days has access to a computer and browsing during breaks/lunch (at least) is considered normal.

ctide 16y ago

How's the 20th century working out for you?

TGJ 16y ago
It's a grain of salt take it how you want. Because you yourself are surrounded by networking does not mean that everyone is surrounded in the same way. It's something to consider. Much like OKCupid being a free site vs surveys from say, eHarmony.
lukesandberg 16y ago
I think that being suspicious of a cohort bias on OKCupid is totally legitimate. It's reasonable to assume that the subset of people who use OKCupid is not representative of society as a whole. Now im not sure exactly what biases this might introduce, but one should always be aware, especially considering that the OKCupid users are a self selected sample (not a random sample) of society.
- potatolicious 16y ago
  > "I think that being suspicious of a cohort bias on OKCupid is totally legitimate." Absolutely, but that's not what DirtyAndy was getting at - he's assigning his own stereotype of an OKCupid user, which he has little data to back up. It's perfectly valid to be suspicious of population bias in a website - any website for that matter - but to extrapolate and pretend to know just how that bias is tilted (without data) is doing yourself a disservice.
  - DirtyAndy 16y ago
    I assign no stereotype to any OKCupid users (I am not even sure I have heard of it before), I do feel perhaps that some peoples insecurities about using a dating website are causing them to take this out of context (I accept my wording may not have been delicate enough). In 1995 I dated a girl I met through IRC or a similar such service, and the few single friends I have I often encourage to at least investigate online services, so I don't fall into any category of people who judge people who use these services. I would say that (at least in the UK) probably a slight majority of the people I know are still uncomfortable with the idea of meeting someone online. It is likely that online dating will become more and more prevalent, will it ever totally eclipse other ways of meeting people, I don't know - and yes I am a dinosaur in that I honestly hope that finding love doesn't come down to a computer metric and getting along via a few emails. The spark of meeting someone special in the flesh, eyes meeting across the room etc is something I hope is never replaced by a computer matching you to someone with similar interests (my wife is amazing, we have an amazing relationship and I am pretty sure no computer would ever put us together - zero interests in common, that is what keeps it interesting). As for no data, I did write my comment with no data to back it up. I would imagine less than 10% of comments I see on HN are made with solid information to backup someones thoughts. Most people on here are smart people that can make up their own minds and provide information from the world they see around them. Did you have any data to back your comment up? Here's a start, OKCupid claim the median number of partners for both men and women, gays and straights is 6. I've just gone out and googled for such numbers, and whilst I didn't find anything definitive, I didn't find one median or average as low as 6, in fact looking at 18-35 as another commentator points out as OKCupid being representative of, 9 would appear more likely (my guess would have been 8). So that probably supports my assumption that there is a bias to some degree - OKCupid users appear to be getting less than the average. I have no idea where OKCupid falls in the spectrum of dating sites, I have no idea how many active users there are in the world of dating websites, but I would be staggered to see statistics that extrapolate to the user base of a singles website being indicative of overall society. In 10 years time, maybe, but at this point in time I doubt it. This article is trying to claim it has real facts, all I am saying is take those facts with a grain of salt.
    - 16y ago

BrandonM 16y ago

I'm on OKCupid. I've been able to "get any" in other ways. According to the article, the average number of sexual partners for everyone on the site is 6. Personally, I'm using the site because I frequently find myself hanging out with friends. Most are male, but there are a few females who are either in relationships or are longtime friends who aren't sexually interested in me. I'm just hoping to meet a few women to go out on casual dates with and to bring into our "friend group." As a 26-year-old who is out of college and whose coworkers are all 35 or older, a dating site seems like a good way to meaningfully meet people. I think your assumptions of the types of people on dating sites are way off. Based on my chats with women on the site, they seem to be in a similar position to me. With dating sites, not only do you get to meet someone outside the context of a bar, you also know that you're talking to someone else who is looking to meet people. It completely removes the awkwardness of trying to figure out if someone is in a relationship, if they have at all similar interests, or if they're going to just be totally bitchy for no reason. That aside, the real question seems to be if the site is representative. I would argue that for the age group of 18-35, the site is highly representative.

davidj 16y ago

I agree. Also it is biased towards people who own computers, have internet, and know about this site. Also biased against for people who aren't currently in a long term relationship or refuse to do online dating. I have never heard of this site and I know people who don't own computers.

HeyLaughingBoy 16y ago
Not much of a bias, though. I know people who regularly use dating sites but don't own a computer: they use the one at work. Just about anyone working in an office these days has access to a computer and browsing during breaks/lunch (at least) is considered normal.